For years, Watchmen was one of the great untouchable masterworks in geekdom. Alan Moore’s deconstruction of the superhero myth was a watershed moment for the mainstream cultural acceptance of the comic book form. It was also a great story, with a beginning, a middle, and a decisive ending – a rarity in a medium built on characters designed to live forever. So it was only natural that DC Comics would ignite a mini-firestorm of controversy when they announced a sequence of Watchmen prequel series, Before Watchmen.

On this week’s episode of Entertainment Geekly, we dive into the great debate about Before Watchmen. We touch on an array of Big Themes central to comic books and genre fiction. We also address the life and work (and relentless complaints) of Alan Moore, the writer of Watchmen, who hit the news earlier this week following a report that his latest comic book casts Harry Potter as the Antichrist.

Listen to the complete podcast below, or check us out in the iTunes store. And if you have your own profound ideas about Before Watchmen – or you just want to rap about which Alan Moore story is the best Alan Moore story – tweet arguments and counterarguments at us at @EWDocJensen and @EWDarrenFranich.